carcosafandomcom-20200213-history
A Dream of Lumen Princes
Awake. : Shake dreams from your hair '' : ''My pretty child, my sweet one : Choose the day, choose the sign of your day : The day's divinity : First thing you see. Boarding First we see a handsome nobleman and his friends, along with a few of the ships officers, huddled together on the quarterdeck, where a old priest intones a prayer to the heavens, giving thanks for God's blessing on this hallowed mission. It is Don Angelino. He is in command of the expedition, but he has never undertaken a voyage of this kind, and he is clearly concerned for his fate. He looks to God and his priests for comfort, for assurance that he will reach the other side of the ocean alive. And he is not the only one. Among those with their heads bowed are Captain Bertram and his fourteen year old neice. The girl has clearly flowered and become a young woman. Angelino cannot help but notice, and his eyes wander over the curves of her face of her body, so hard to conceal beneath the conservative dress her uncle has instructed her to wear aboard the ship. The young woman, Mariangela, notices the Don watching her, and gives him a knowing smile. She is wise to his thoughts, and does not mind. Then, we see the doctor. He is near the bottom of the gang plank, which is filled with a queue of passengers embarking one by one, their baggage rustled up tight beneath their arms. He gives specific instructions to a young man in a messenger's livery and presses coin into the boy's hand. He is sending a letter home, which is far away in the pagan lands of the north. He turns to board the ship and runs straight into a woman and her four children. She is tall, fair haired, probably close to 40 years of age, and wears a mask of fatique and worry. From her four little ones, an unending stream of questions issues, about the voyage, about the New World, and about sailing ships. She does her best to answer them, but clearly, attending to their curiosity is just one more thing she cannot keep grip on. Not with everything else. The doctor resuces her. Grabbing up her baggage, and offering to get her settled on the ship, the mother of four quickly finds a smile and kind words for this stranger and they become friends. Her name is Josslyn. She is traveling to the New World with her family to meet her new husband, a merchant in Port Salvadore. That this friendly stranger is also a doctor, and seemingly wise to voyages such as this one, paints him as a saint to her eyes. She needed help and the doctor was there. Finally, we head below decks. A large man in a rough spun tunic and simple rope squeezes down the steps into the gloom to see what manner of souls are present. The press of human skin and salt and sweat stick to the back of the throat. By the light of hanging lanterns, however, the crew and passengers are in high spirits. Most have settled in having arrived weeks ago. Others are just finding their places, negotiating for better spots on the decks, or in hammocks which are in short supply, or even just places closer to the hatch in case of emergency. Men are playing cards. This draws the attention of our big man. The players are a group of well dressed gentlemen, who aside from being penniless artists consigned to a 9 week journey in steerage, consider themselves men of worth - intellectual worth if nothing else. One of them, a frenchman by the name of Alan, regails the rest with boasts of his new commission. The Duke of Burgundy, he claims, has placed in his capable hands the task of writing an epic play. It is to be a comedy, the subject of which are several key members of court. Also, he is cheating. The big man is Brother Grollin. He is with the templars. He exposes the lies of the self styled dramatist who blusters about the accusation for a moment and then decides he has no time to quarrel with this lot, and storms off. Grollin sits down with the men in the empty chair and learns to play cards. The others are happy to teach him, and happy to steal from his winnings as well. The big man notices, but doesn't care.